Adoption Promotion Act of 1997

Adoption Promotion Act of 1997 - Amends the Social Security Act to provide that in cases of aggravated circumstances (including abuse, abandonment, and torture), the States are not required to first make reasonable efforts to retain children in their own homes as a prerequisite to placing a child in foster care.

(Sec. 3) Requires a State to initiate or join proceedings to terminate parental rights for children under age ten who have been in foster care under State responsibility for 18 months.

(Sec. 4) Entitles each incentive-eligible State for a fiscal year to receive from the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the immediately succeeding fiscal year a grant in an amount equal to the adoption incentive payment. Makes appropriations for such grants.

(Sec. 5) Provides for earlier status reviews and permanency hearings, notice of reviews and hearings, and opportunity to be heard for foster parents and pertinent relatives.

(Sec. 7) Mandates State documentation of the steps taken to find and finalize permanent child placement.

(Sec. 8) Requires the Secretary to: (1) report and make recommendations to specified congressional committees on the extent to which children in foster care are placed in the care of a relative (kinship care); and (2) establish an advisory panel to review such report.

(Sec. 9) Authorizes use of the parent locator service in termination of parental rights proceedings.

(Sec. 10) Instructs the Secretary to: (1) develop a set of outcome measures to assess the performance of States in operating child protection programs; and (2) report annually to the Congress on the performance of each State on each outcome measure.

(Sec. 11) Increases from 10 to 15 the authorized number of State child protection demonstration projects.

(Sec. 12) Prescribes guidelines for technical assistance to help States and local communities reach their targets for increased numbers of adoptions and alternative permanent placements for children in foster care (including development of programs that place children into pre-adoptive families without waiting for termination of parental rights).

(Sec. 13) Instructs the Secretary to report to certain congressional committees regarding the scope of substance abuse in the child welfare population, and the outcomes resulting from the services provided to such population.

(Sec. 14) Modifies the eligibility criteria for Independent Living Services.